Dead by Morning

Patrick Holt is "Dax", a successful crime writer who is suffering from a bit of a mental block. His wife "Kate" (Diana Dors) suggest they take a break in the country where they encounter the eponymous "Miss Tulip" (Cicely Courtneidge) - but not for long. On coming down in the morning, they discover the French windows open and their guest shot dead. The police arrive and under the investigative gaze of "Insp. Thorne" (Joss Ambler) the game is afoot. Dors was always a very light-weight actress and offers little of substance here, but at times there is a bit of fun tit-for-tat dialogue between the policeman and the novelist to keep this otherwise entirely forgettable comedy off the rocks. The ending is not quite the stuff of Agatha Christie but it's a little bit quirky and all-in-all this is actually quite a passable, low-budget, hour or so of bucolic sleuthing.